aurora velasco

EDTEC 670 - Exploratory learning through Educational simulation and games

Pinyin quest

By: Lana Dabboussy, Manuel Oliverez, Jess Sanders, Aurora Velasco

Overview

Our iPhone game is designed to teach Pinyin, the most commonly used romanization system for standard Mandarin Chinese. The game opens in a Chinese temple, where a visiting student is reading his phrase book and incorrectly pronounces a sequence of words, since he/she does not know Pinyin. This mistake invokes a spell that transports him/her to a village in an ancient time. Here the student meets a wise man, who has the ability to create a magic potion that can send the student back home!

Through the student's phrase book, which contains words written in Chinese characters, Pinyin, and English, the wise man can somewhat communicate with the student. Realizing the student's mistake and his need to learn how to properly pronounce the Chinese syllables, he sends the student on various quests throughout the village. In these quests, the student will obtain the ingredients to make the magic potion, and in the process will learn and practice the Pinyin system. The student can only return back to his time and reunite with his classmates by completing all of the quests, bringing back the ingredients to the wise man, and drinking the magic potion!

Instructional Objective

This game teaches the proper pronunciation of Pinyin syllables. Players will learn to distinguish between the 4 tones, as well as the initial and final sounds that compose Chinese words. They will demonstrate their mastery by correctly matching Pinyin forms of Chinese syllables and words with their correct pronunciations.
See and hear Pinyin

Learners

The target audience includes students in high school or college, ages 16-24, with an interest in visiting China and/or learning the Chinese language. Their Chinese language competency is beginner to intermediate. They have access to an iPhone or iPod touch.

Context of Use

This is a single player language instruction game designed for the iPhone and iPod touch. The game is on a portable platform, so it can be played at home, on the road, or anywhere else the player would like to practice their language skills in an informal setting. Prior to playing, the learner must download and install the application from the iPhone App Store. Headphones are also needed, because sound plays a key role in the game.

The game is linear and involves the player advancing through multiple levels while gaining skills that will allow them to accomplish the goal that ends the game. However, the game can be replayed multiple times if the player desires to hear and practice the tones in greater depth, or accomplish the levels in shorter time.

Scope

The game will have 5 levels, which are 5 different locations in the ancient village where the player has been transported. At these locations, the player will go through a puzzle/game sequence that tests their knowledge of Pinyin tones. At the end of each level, if the player completes the puzzle/game successfully, he will receive an item that he must take back to the wise man for further instruction.

Specifically, the game content includes the 4 basic tones of Pinyin, the appearance of the tone marks, and the proper pronunciation of the initial and final Pinyin syllables. Basic phrases will also be taught and utilized by the player throughout the game play. Purposefully excluded are instruction of Chinese characters, as teaching those are beyond the scope of learning pronunciation.

A single game may last 1-2 hours, depending on the skill level of the learner. Players will be able to save their progress at any point and continue play at their own convenience, extending the gameplay over several days.

Object of the Game

Lost in the past, the player wants to safely reunite with his/her classmates. The player can only go back to his time and reunite with his classmates by obtaining 5 potion ingredients, i.e. pass all of the levels which have tested his Pinyin abilities, and drink the magic potion the wise man concocts to send him back.

Competing Products

Online Games:

• http://www.digitaldialects.com/Chinese.htm : A collection of matching games useful for learning vocabulary. Players can choose to hear the words or read them in Pinyin.
• http://hua.umf.maine.edu/Chinese/games/tone2/tone2_ps.html : A game much like the card game Memory, in which the player clicks on a card, sees and hears a particular syllable, then chooses another overturned card to try to make a match.
• http://pinyin.quickmandarin.com/learn_chinese_quiz/tones_drill/: A timed game in which the player hears a syllable being spoken, and sees on the screen the four tone marks of Pinyin. The player must click on which tone they just heard. If they are correct, they gain points and move onto the next sound. If incorrect, they are told to try again.

iPhone applications:

• iPinyin Lite: Free application which contains the Pinyin matrix and Flash Cards that show a word which the player can choose to hear pronounced in a male or female voice. There is no actual scenario gameplay/storyline that the player follows; it is purely a reference tool.
• Chinese Pinyin: This application covers all the possible syllables in the Chinese language. For each syllable, the program provides the pronunciation in the four different tones. The format is not like a game, but more like a reference tool where you select which syllable you would like to study, and then it provides that syllables four tones that you can click on to listen.

Our game is different because it is a simulation set in a fantasy world. Learning the content is intertwined with getting ahead in the game. Most of the competing products we have seen do not motivate learners using fantasy. The online Tones Drill game can hold attention based on curiosity, but no progress or story is available as part of the interface. Our target audience has access to stimulating game environments that are immersive and entertaining. Our game meets their need for challenge and fantasy, while teaching them the important elements of Pinyin at the same time.

Design Details

Universal Elements

The graphics will be cartoon-like in nature and utilize vibrant, bold color schemes. The graphics will represent a 3D environment and incorporate a slightly skewed, distorted style to represent the fantasy element of the game (see screen shots below).

Sounds

The sounds used throughout the game will be actual voice recordings of the different tones and syllables, recorded by a native Chinese speaker.
At the farm, the four different tones will sound closely to the animals who are saying the particular tone.

While Crossing the river, a low murmur of a river sound will be heard. A native Chinese speaker other than that of the Wiseman will represent the herbalist.
During the musician's challenge the tones will sound very close to musical notes.
In the magic kitchen, the pot will have a deep voice and in the background the player will hear a bubbling sound.

Sounds and instant feedback:
Every time the player makes a right move, s/he will hear a positive *bling* sound.
Every time the player makes a wrong choice, s/he will hear a negative *buong* sound.

Introduction (Animated Story):

Before the game begins, the player is given the choice of a male or female student protagonist.

In the opening scene of the game, the student visits a Chinese temple, carrying a Chinese phrasebook. Reading aloud from the book, the student mispronounces a phrase and finds himself/herself magically transported to a village far away in space and time. Lost and bewildered, the student meets a villager who takes him/her to the house of the local wise man.

In an effort to communicate, the student uses his phrase book and tries to explain what happened. Though the student is clearly mispronouncing many words in the book, the wise man understands what happened and decides to help him. But first, to prevent a mistake such as this from happening again, the wise man determines to teach the student proper pronunciation, relying on the Pinyin system in the book.

From now on the word player will replace the word character.

Game Levels:

Level 1: Tutorial at the wise man's house

Objective: learn the four different tones through the help of the wise man and the phrase book.

Test: The wise man will pronounce many words and the player/learner will point to the pinyin symbols in the phrase book.

After the tutorial, the wise man explains to the character that the only way s/he can go home is for him/her to drink a magic potion. The ingredients of the potion can only be gathered by the player through the means of sometimes perilous missions. Only after the player has gathered four special ingredients from around the village can the wise man prepare the potion.

Level 2-5:

• The player has to bring back four ingredients for the wise man to make a magic potion. After each task, the player must go back to the wise man's house to deliver the ingredient collected and receive the details of his next mission.
• A countdown timer will feature on the top left of the screen every time the player is on a mission. The time will not contribute to the challenge of the game, but is rather an indication of how much time the player is taking in each task.
• All missions are on a win or lose basis with a "three-error" threshold.
• The completed levels will be indicated at the top right of the screen.

Navigation: To reach the four locations assigned by the wise man, the player slides the iPhone screen up, down, or sideways. Because the locations build one on another, movement is restricted according to the highest level the player has achieved. To go back to the wise man's house, the player slides back to the main screen.

Level 2:

The first task: At the farm

Objective: The player must categorize the animals into their respective pens. The animals are not grouped like in a regular farm by category (chicken, horses, cows, pigs...) but by the pinyin sound each animal makes.

Action: The player clicks on an animal, hears the sound it produces, and drags it into the appropriate pen with the corresponding tone mark.

Winning: When the player places all animals in their appropriate pens, then he collects the reward, goes back triumphantly to the wise man's house, and completes level 2.

Reward: golden chicken plume for the magic potion

Losing: If the player makes three mistakes in recognizing the pinyin sounds, then the farmer will come and chase the player away with a shovel. The player has no to choice but to go back sad and bruised to the wise man's house and repeat level 2 from the beginning.

Level 3:

The second task: Crossing the river

Objective: The player needs to cross to the other side of a wild river by jumping on logs on which different pinyin tones are written.

Action: The player listens to an herbalist tending his herbs at the other side of the river. The herbalist shouts pinyin sounds and the player has to jump on logs with the matching pinyin writing.

Winning: When the player jumps on the appropriate logs and reaches the other side of the river s/he collects the reward, goes back triumphantly to the wise man's house, and completes level 3.

Reward: The whirlwind herb for the magic potion

Losing: After the player makes three mistakes in recognizing the pinyin sound and stepping on the wrong log, the fourth mistake will cause the log break underneath him/her and s/he will fall in the river. The player has no to choice but to go back wet and exhausted to the wise man's house and repeat level 3.

Level 4:
The third task: Musician's challenge

Objective: The player needs to duplicate a tone or a series of pinyin tones as played by the village's sacred musician on the fantasy musical instrument: the pinyinator. This instrument has the 4 pinyin tone marks written on its keys.

Action: The player listens to the tones the musician is playing and has to repeat them in the same order on the pinyinator provided to him by the musician. The musician starts playing one tone and this progresses to more. Whatever the tone or the series of tones are, the player must duplicate them exactly as he hears them.

Winning: When the player copies the pinyin melody tone by tone on the pinyinator. S/he collects the reward, goes back triumphantly to the wise man's house, and completes level 4.
Reward: A silver hair from the musician's long beard

Losing: If the player makes three mistakes while repeating any pattern, the instrument s/he is playing on will explode. The player has no choice but to go back haggard and sooty to the wise man's house and repeat level 4.

Level 5:
The fourth task: In the magic kitchen

Objective: The player needs to feed the talking pot with Chinese words by assembling two pinyin sounds together along with a tone marker.

Action: Above the boiling pot are three shelves full of jars: On the top shelf there are the pinyin initial sounds, on the middle shelf are the finals, and on the lower shelf are the four tone markers. The boiling pot will say the word he needs to eat, and the player has to click and drag into the pot the three elements that constitute that word: the initial sound, the final sound, and the tone marker of the word.

Winning: The player wins once s/he has fed the pot with all the words it requested. S/he collects the reward, goes back triumphantly to the wise man's house, and completes level 5

Reward: Broth from the pot, which is the base for the potion.

Losing: If the player makes three mistakes while feeding the pot, the pot will spill its contents all over the player. The player has no choice but to go back dirty - with carrots and celery sticking out of his hair- to the wise man's house and repeat level 5.

Winning the game: Once Level 5 is complete, the player brings the broth, the last potion ingredient, to the wise man who concocts the magic potion. The player drinks it and goes back to the time s/he came from.

Technical Elements

This game can be authored using GameSalad available at http://www.gamesalad.com. The platform the game would be developed for is the iPhone and iPod Touch devices. Recommended file formats for use in GameSalad are .png for graphics and AAC for audio clips.

Motivational Issues

• Challenge: Our target players will have little to no understanding of the Pinyin phonetic system. As the game progresses, puzzles/quests require increasing comfort with Pinyin and the spoken Chinese language. As the player acquires new skills, the puzzles keep getting harder to challenge them and test what they have learned.
  
  According to Malone and Lepper, "in order for an activity to be challenging it must provide goals such that goal attainment is uncertain." For each puzzle/quest the player will engage in, it is uncertain if they will pass that activity successfully. Each activity provides more clues and skills for the player to continue on, so that uncertainty of even being able to carry on to the next level provides an enticing challenge for the player.
  
  
• Curiosity: The phrase book is where the character can keep an account of the Pinyin skills and knowledge he has acquired. There will be some pages that are locked, or missing some entries, representing the fact that the character has not yet demonstrated skill mastery. This curiosity of "what comes next?" and "what am I missing?" is a great motivator for the player to continue on with the game and see all pages in the phrase book!
  
  There is also the element of Sensory Curiosity with the inclusion of sound. It is essential for learning to include audio samples throughout the game of how the different Pinyin tones sound. When the player first starts the game, seeing the different tone marks is accompanied by curiosity of what sound those different marks represent. The introduction of different words and phrases throughout the game will result in ongoing sensory stimuli for curious players.
  
  
• Control: The player has the control to replay any puzzle/quest in the game if he/she desires. Perhaps they want to get a better score, solve the puzzle in less time, or just get more practice with the skill being taught. The player of the game will feel a sense of control because he knows that inevitably, the success of the tasks he carries out will contribute to winning the game, regardless of whether or not the player can finish the tasks in a record time. The game is also presented with different levels of difficulty. The player is presented with the option of moving at his/her own pace.
  
  
• Fantasy: According to Malone and Lepper, "in fantasy, each of us can vicariously... master situations that would baffle or be unavailable to us in real life." Our game makes the most use out of this element of fantasy where players are transported to an ancient time and get to meet characters and carry out actions that they will probably never do in reality.
  
  
• Cooperation/Competition: High scores for each puzzle/quest are available from ALL players in the online Pinyin Quest community...

From an ARCS perspective, the players fulfill all stages of Keller's theory. Attention is first grabbed by the cartoonish and colorful design of the game, as well as the story. It is maintained throughout the game with a variety of tutorials, quizzes, and quests. The target audience for this game is students who want to learn pinyin characters and intonation and will therefore find the game extremely relevant to their purposes. Confidence is gained by working slowly with the tutorials first, moving on to the quizzes, and finally completing the different quests. The players will reach satisfaction not only when they finish the game and go back to the modern world, but also during the mini-tests and the completion of each level.

Design Process

Because of the growing importance of Chinese in the world today, we knew we wanted to design a game dealing with pinyin. The only problem was, the four of us don't speak Chinese and have never attempted to learn it. This task seemed daunting, but we tackled it with positivity and focused on making our game fun to play, and attractive to our target audience.

After consulting a few websites teaching basic Chinese and watching a few YouTube tutorials, we decided that pronunciation was one of the most difficult aspects for students to grasp. We narrowed the scope of our game down by focusing on a beginners audience and the introduction of the Pinyin romanization system.

We started brainstorming together as to what would make a game fun while at the same time teaching players Pinyin and pronunciation. Ideally, a game about pronunciation would include a voice recognition component. Rather than build in this feature and complicate the game, we chose to focus on listening skills as the foundation of proper pronunciation. We thought the best way for beginners to learn is by exposition and repetition. In our imagined game, the players would associate pinyin symbols with the sounds they hear, perhaps in a flashcard like manner. However, that definitely sounded more like a quiz or a drill, not a game.

We decided to invoke an essential component of games we considered fun: a great story. Pursuing this goal, we initially came up with two different story lines. The first one was that of a tourist traveling around Beijing and dealing with different travel-related situations. The second story involved a medieval Chinese knight who needed to rescue a princess or acquire a treasure from an old fortress. The first story seemed more accessible to modern learners but the second one offered an element of fantasy, a crucial element of interpersonal motivation. We decided to merge the two and came up with a fused story line: that of a tourist student who is visiting China with his classmates but who somehow ends up lost in time and space. After completing a quest, he can return to his own time.

One brainstorming session led to another, with each one of us adding, improving, or fusing already-discussed ideas. The game seemed to take on a life of its own. By focusing on the theory that players will learn by having fun, we deivsed 4 different mini-games within the main game. The fantasy element definitely allowed us flexibility and the opportunity to incorporate scenarios that would not have been possible in a "real-world" setting. The actions in our game require a lot of touching, dragging, and sliding, because we know that iPhone and iPod Touch users appreciate the tactile pleasures associated with the touchscreen interface.

Working on this game taught us a very valuable lesson already mentioned in Schell's book: Love. It was in the shared love for the game by all team members that inspired the energy and enthusiastic teamwork that made the design of the game both fun and successful.

References

• Keller, J. M., & Suzuki, K. (1988). Use of the ARCS motivation model in courseware design. In D. H. Jonassen (Ed.). Instructional designs for microcomputer courseware. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Malone, T. W., & Lepper, M. R. (1987). Making learning fun: A taxonomy of intrinsic motivations for learning. In R. E. Snow & M. J. Farr (Eds.). Aptitude, learning and instruction. Volume 3: Conative and affective process analysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Schell, J. (2008). The art of game design: A book of lenses. Massachusetts: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.
• Salen, K. & Zimmerman, E. (2004). Rules of play: Game design fundamentals. Massachusets Institute of Technology
• Pease, A. & J. (2004). The definitive book of body language. London: Orion House

Electronic

• http://www.digitaldialects.com/Chinese.htm
• http://hua.umf.maine.edu/Chinese/games/tone2/tone2_ps.html
• http://pinyin.quickmandarin.com/learn_chinese_quiz/tones_drill/
• http://simple-chinese.com/learn-chinese
• http://watchtolearnchinese.com
• http://web.mit.edu/jinzhang/www/pinyin/
• http://www.gamesalad.com